MANILA, Philippines - When GMA-7?s musical quiz show, ?All Star K, The P1M Videoke Challenge? started telecasting, we were amazed at the ability of its contestants to quickly fill in the blanks with the missing lyrics of a wide range of songs?and to sing them tunefully, to boot.

To us, this was an ?only in the Philippines? quiz format, since Filipinos are more musical than most, and love to break out into song at the drop of a song hits magazine.

Well, what do you know? After quite a number of years, American TV has finally caught on to the challenging format and come up with its own version of the musical quiz show, ?Don?t Forget the Lyrics,? seen locally Sundays, 5:30 p.m. on the Velvet channel.

Compared to ?K,? the American program is easier on its contestants, because it features only one song and singer at a time. This enables the contestant to concentrate on a specific song challenge, unlike the proceedings on K, where multiple singers compete with one another, and a wide range of song queries is sometimes involved.

On the other hand, the American contestants have a harder time of it, because they have to remember entire lines of lyrics, rather than just a word or phrase at a time.

In fact, it?s quite amazing how some of its featured amateur singers can perform entire songs with musical aplomb and flourish. A lot of bucks are involved as each contestant moves up the rung of accelerating winnings, adding to the tension each singer feels, and yet the performance?and remembrance?level is generally high.

Dating game

Another new reality challenge show on the tube is ?Age of Love,? which tweaks the usual dating or rich-bachelor format by providing its resident hunk with two sets of potential girlfriends: The first group is in its 20s, while the second is in its 40s.

Thus, the fight for the resident hunk?s fancy has been turned into a cross-generational battle between ?young? and ?mature? women. The big question, of course, is: Which age group will win the most eligible bachelor?s nod?

If it?s a young contender, it?s par for the course. But, if an older woman wins, it ?proves? that experience in seduction holds the edge over breathlessly pneumatic youth!

This would be a consoling and heartening denouement for mature female viewers, and the prospect of this happening would keep them watching the show from week to week.

Assured ratings

As for their young counterparts, they too would watch the show to root for their ?representative,? so good ratings for the program are pretty much assured.

The last time we caught ?Age of Love,? the contenders had been whittled down to two mature and two young women. All of them professed to be smitten with the show?s handsome hunk, and appeared to be prepared to do ?anything? to catch his eye and win his nod.

But, wonder of wonders, by the time the telecast had ended, one mature woman had opted to leave the show because she confessed that she didn?t feel all that lovey-dovey with its resident bachelor?and one of the two remaining younger finalists also dropped out, because she was scared of flying and couldn?t join the group on its trip to Australia to meet the hunk?s parents!

Those weird developments left only two finalists, one in her mid-20s and the other in her late 40s. Up to the race?s final leg, the generational battle lines are still drawn!

?The Water Horse?

Based on the book by Dick King-Smith, the new fantasy adventure, ?The Water Horse,? tells the story of a lonely young Scottish boy named Angus (Axel Etel) who takes home a mysterious, magical egg?and soon finds himself raising an amazing creature, the mythical ?water horse? of Scottish lore.

As he tries to protect his friend, whom he names Crusoe, Angis begins a journey of discovery, protecting a secret that gives birth to a legend.